In Msgr Benson's novel The Lord of the World about the antichrist he shows a society where euthanasia is a routine choice people can make. Chilling. ( his book was written before WWI)
The trouble the term "invasive procedures" is that it can cover a multitude. Even a simple injection is an invasive procedure. This brings to mind a somewhat traumatic experience I had some years ago. I won't go into the details of what led up to it but will give the gist of what happened. I called the out of hours doctor for an elderly lady who lived alone. Doctor called an ambulance. We had to persuade her to go in the ambulance. She lost consciousness in the hospital while waiting to be seen by a doctor. Her next of kin was a few hours' drive away. Doctor asked me about resuscitation. I hadn't a clue and was panicked. The best I could manage was to tell the doctor that she was a devout Catholic and he should do nothing that would shorten her life. They stuck into her throat some kind of plastic gadget that I think was a ventilator. Her next of kin arrived and the doctor (a foreigner who I think was Muslim) told him that they had done their best and God would decide whether she would live. In the days after that I would look at her lying in the bed thinking "What have I done?". She was a long time in hospital but recovered from whatever the illness was (probably pneumonia) and was transferred to a nursing home, was very happy there, lived for another year or so and had a very peaceful death. Her parish priest saw her the night she died, gave her the last rites including the Apostolic pardon which she probably wouldn't have received from the priest in the hospital. It all worked out for the best in the end but I don't envy anyone faced with such decisions.
The patient refusing medical intervention for a chronic disease isn't euthanasia by any stretch. The state, a hospital, or individual, withholding treatment against the patient's will is something else entirely. Granted, the waters can easily get muddied, but forcing someone to submit to the will of the medical establishment, making them undergo unwanted surgeries, making them ingest unwanted drugs, many with toxic side effects, or at best, unknown long term consequences, regardless of the patient's directives, isn't somewhere we want to go. It's an especially slippery slope to allow the medical establishment, or the state, or a well-meaning social worker, to go against the decision of the patient. Those in charge might decide to force medical intervention, such as drugs or radiation, or gene therapy because it's for the patient's own good. However, they can just as easily go the other way, deciding it's in the best interest of the patient to hasten their death via medical intervention, for example, by lethal injection, or to deny medical intervention. If the patient's will on the matter is unknown because they unable to communicate and they didn't leave some sort of directive, I say assume they want to live and apply the standard medical intervention. But if it's known, respect the patient's decision. There are nuanced circumstances, of course, not a blanket solution for every case, but I do have strong opinions about this.
Once it's determined by the gov't that they are the "experts" in this matter, it goes down hill very quickly. The guilt people are loaded with is beyond imagining. The next step in the "process", is to have everyone automatically considered to be organ donors unless they opt out. Here where I am they had it indicated on our drivers licenses. We had to call by a certain date to opt out from the get go. This was implemented in the middle of the covid scare. Keep in mind that most people do not realize that in order to be an organ donor, one must be alive.....I mention this not to upset anyone, but so that you are aware in case this "legislation" is not yet approved where you live.
